TNC's Dream Up Festival To Present GLITCHED

"Glitched," written and directed by Melissa Maney, is a dark fantasy horror story in which a woman faces a phobia on a carnival ride but finds more to fear than she'd bargained for. Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival will present the play's world premiere August 26 to September 4.

A woman enters a darkened carnival at night. Only one ride is functional, but the operator is at work and more than willing to let her ride. She's there to face her fears, she tells him, and she likes to do things creatively. How could one face phobias more creatively than on a ride reminiscent of "It's a Small World?" Before long, it becomes apparent that neither the carnival's timeline nor the operator's story make sense. But by then, she is already strapped in.

After entering an eerie, dark Disney-esque ride whose mannequins glitch, she ends up trapped in the ride with the unnerving operator. She had hoped to come out of the experience better off and less fearful, but as she enters a nightmare reality, it becomes clear that her change may not be for the better. It's the operator's world, and she's just riding in it.

The cast of five is unnamed as of this writing.

Author/director Melissa Maney is a recent graduate of the New School for Drama. She has directed "Echoes See Through Dark Eyes" at the Barrow Group Theater, "A Therapy Session With Myself" at the Dramatists Guild Fund and "Living Room" at the Woodside Player's Theater and has produced plays including "I'm Just Loving It" in its productions at The Player's Theater, Gene Frankel Theater, and the Hudson Guild Theater. She wrote "Garden of Lies," which was performed at The Secret Theatre, and she is working on a piece of writing for the Bechdel Group. She is an actor at The Actor's Project NYC and an intern at NYNeofuturists.

The ninth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is being presented by Theater for the New City from August 26 to September 16. An ultimate new work festival, it is dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances. Audiences savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country and around the world.

The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.

In addition to traditional plays, a unique and varied selection of productions will again be offered, drawing upon a variety of performance genres including musicals, puppetry and movement theater. The Festival's founders, Crystal Field and Michael Scott-Price, feel this is especially needed in our present time of declining donations to the arts, grants not being awarded due to market conditions, and arts funding cuts on almost every level across the country and abroad.